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US6941491B2 - Method of debugging using a USB connecting system - Google Patents

Method of debugging using a USB connecting system Download PDF

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Publication number
US6941491B2
US6941491B2 US10/073,205 US7320502A US6941491B2 US 6941491 B2 US6941491 B2 US 6941491B2 US 7320502 A US7320502 A US 7320502A US 6941491 B2 US6941491 B2 US 6941491B2
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target
host
debugging
usb
bios
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US10/073,205
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US20030154429A1 (en
Inventor
Song Bor Chen
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Inventec Corp
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Inventec Corp
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Assigned to INVENTEC CORPORATION reassignment INVENTEC CORPORATION ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: CHEN, SONG-BOR
Publication of US20030154429A1 publication Critical patent/US20030154429A1/en
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F11/00—Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring
    • G06F11/36—Prevention of errors by analysis, debugging or testing of software
    • G06F11/362—Debugging of software
    • G06F11/3648—Debugging of software using additional hardware
    • G06F11/3656—Debugging of software using additional hardware using a specific debug interface

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a system debug method and, in particular, to a method used in a computer system for debugging the system through a USB (universal serial bus).
  • USB universal serial bus
  • the invention provides a method of debugging a system through a USB (universal serial bus), and one of whose objectives is to use a USB connecting a host PC and a target PC to monitor the debugging job.
  • USB universal serial bus
  • the disclosed method debugs the target PC from the host PC.
  • the target PC is provided with a debug port and program code and the host PC is installed with monitor software.
  • the host PC monitors the debugging state of the BIOS (basic input/output system) of the target PC.
  • a USB interface connects the target PC and the host PC, achieving the objective of debugging the system through the USB.
  • FIG. 1 shows the system structure of the disclosed method
  • FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the first embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the second embodiment of the invention.
  • the computer systems connected through the USB includes a target PC 10 and a host PC 20 .
  • the target PC 10 is the computer system that performs debugging
  • the host PC 20 is the computer system that monitors the debugging message.
  • the target PC 10 contains a BIOS 11 and a target PC connecting unit 12 .
  • the host PC 20 contains a Monitoring Debugging Program 21 and a host PC connecting unit 22 .
  • the BIOS 11 of the target PC 10 is provided with the function of outputting debug signals. That is, the program code with the function of outputting debug signals is added into the BIOS 11 when making the BIOS firmware of the system.
  • the host PC 20 is installed with the Monitoring Debugging Program 21 .
  • a transmission unit 30 is provided to connect the target PC 10 and the host PC 20 .
  • Both the target PC connecting unit 12 and the host PC connecting unit 22 are USB ports.
  • the transmission unit 30 is a USB cable.
  • the BIOS 11 is further installed with a flow control flag to control the function.
  • the flow control flag can be set as 0 or 1 by the user, controlling whether the Monitoring Debugging Program should keep running.
  • step 110 first drives a bus of a host PC for connection.
  • Step 120 reads the flow control flag of the BIOS.
  • Step 130 determines whether the Monitoring Debugging Program should be executed. If the flow control flag indicates not to run the Monitoring Debugging Program, then the target PC does not compile the program code of the debug signal outputting function into the BIOS. If the flow control flag indicates to run the Monitoring Debugging Program, the target PC compiles the debug signal into data in the BIOS (step 140 ). Step 150 then sends the BIOS data to the host PC through the bus. Finally, the data are displayed on the host PC in step 160 for the user at the host PC to monitor the debugging state of the BIOS of the target PC.
  • step 170 compiles a debug signal and drives a bus for connection.
  • a target PC confirms the flow control flag in step 180 , determining whether the Monitoring Debugging Program should be executed (step 130 ). If the flow control flag indicates not to run the Monitoring Debugging Program, then the target PC does not output the debug signal to the host PC. If the flow control flag indicates to run the Monitoring Debugging Program, the target PC sends out the debug signal and reads data to be output from the BIOS (step 190 ). The data already contain the debug signal. The data are sent to the host PC through a bus interface (step 150 ). The bus interface is a USB interface. Finally, the data are displayed on the host PC (step 160 ) for the user to monitor the debug state of the BIOS of the target PC.
  • the BIOS in the above two embodiments may further have the functions of initializing the USB controller of the target PC and sending data to the host PC through the USB port.
  • a target PC can performs debugging with the use of a USB cable. Therefore, the computer system debugging does not need expensive utilities and becomes more efficient.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Quality & Reliability (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Debugging And Monitoring (AREA)

Abstract

A method of debugging using a USB connecting system. A debug signal function is installed in the BIOS of a target PC, and a host PC is provided with monitor software. A USB interface is used to connect the target PC and the host PC, using the host PC to monitor the debugging state of the BIOS of the target PC. The invention thus achieves the goal of debugging a system through a USB.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a system debug method and, in particular, to a method used in a computer system for debugging the system through a USB (universal serial bus).
2. Related Art
In the modern world, more and more functions are provided in information processing systems. Therefore, debugging becomes increasingly difficult when problems occur to the system. During the developing phase of a system program or when the system is out of order, debugging is then extremely messy for programmers or ordinary users.
To avoid any possible bugs from occurring for the information processing system to function correctly, any abnormal phenomenon has to be monitored and corrected so that no serious consequences will happen in the information processing system. Conventional programmers or ordinary users have to search for bugs by trials when the system has errors. This often wastes a lot of time and efforts.
To solve the above-mentioned problem, various kinds of debuggers are used as programming tools to help debugging. However, these methods require expensive devices, such as the ICE (in-circuit emulator). This will greatly increase the cost. Another method is to use an I/O (input/output) port connecting to a decoding circuit for debugging. Though the cost of the later method is lower, it is nevertheless very inconvenient because an extra connecting circuit is needed.
From the above description, one sees that currently available debugging utilities are either too costly or too inconvenient in practice. Therefore, it is highly desirable to provide a debugging utility that is both convenient and cheap.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides a method of debugging a system through a USB (universal serial bus), and one of whose objectives is to use a USB connecting a host PC and a target PC to monitor the debugging job.
The disclosed method debugs the target PC from the host PC. First, the target PC is provided with a debug port and program code and the host PC is installed with monitor software. The host PC monitors the debugging state of the BIOS (basic input/output system) of the target PC. A USB interface connects the target PC and the host PC, achieving the objective of debugging the system through the USB.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
FIG. 1 shows the system structure of the disclosed method;
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the first embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the second embodiment of the invention.
 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
With reference to FIG. 1, the computer systems connected through the USB includes a target PC 10 and a host PC 20. The target PC 10 is the computer system that performs debugging, and the host PC 20 is the computer system that monitors the debugging message. The target PC 10 contains a BIOS 11 and a target PC connecting unit 12. The host PC 20 contains a Monitoring Debugging Program 21 and a host PC connecting unit 22.
First, the BIOS 11 of the target PC 10 is provided with the function of outputting debug signals. That is, the program code with the function of outputting debug signals is added into the BIOS 11 when making the BIOS firmware of the system. The host PC 20 is installed with the Monitoring Debugging Program 21. A transmission unit 30 is provided to connect the target PC 10 and the host PC 20.
Both the target PC connecting unit 12 and the host PC connecting unit 22 are USB ports. The transmission unit 30 is a USB cable. In addition to the function of outputting debug signals, the BIOS 11 is further installed with a flow control flag to control the function. The flow control flag can be set as 0 or 1 by the user, controlling whether the Monitoring Debugging Program should keep running.
The description of the disclosed method is detailed as follows. With reference to FIG. 2, step 110 first drives a bus of a host PC for connection. Step 120 reads the flow control flag of the BIOS. Step 130 determines whether the Monitoring Debugging Program should be executed. If the flow control flag indicates not to run the Monitoring Debugging Program, then the target PC does not compile the program code of the debug signal outputting function into the BIOS. If the flow control flag indicates to run the Monitoring Debugging Program, the target PC compiles the debug signal into data in the BIOS (step 140). Step 150 then sends the BIOS data to the host PC through the bus. Finally, the data are displayed on the host PC in step 160 for the user at the host PC to monitor the debugging state of the BIOS of the target PC.
Another example is given below to illustrate a second embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 3, step 170 compiles a debug signal and drives a bus for connection. A target PC confirms the flow control flag in step 180, determining whether the Monitoring Debugging Program should be executed (step 130). If the flow control flag indicates not to run the Monitoring Debugging Program, then the target PC does not output the debug signal to the host PC. If the flow control flag indicates to run the Monitoring Debugging Program, the target PC sends out the debug signal and reads data to be output from the BIOS (step 190). The data already contain the debug signal. The data are sent to the host PC through a bus interface (step 150). The bus interface is a USB interface. Finally, the data are displayed on the host PC (step 160) for the user to monitor the debug state of the BIOS of the target PC.
The BIOS in the above two embodiments may further have the functions of initializing the USB controller of the target PC and sending data to the host PC through the USB port.
EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION
Using the disclosed technique, a target PC can performs debugging with the use of a USB cable. Therefore, the computer system debugging does not need expensive utilities and becomes more efficient.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

Claims (9)

1. A debugging method using a USB (universal serial bus) connecting system for debugging a target PC from a host PC, which comprises the steps of:
driving a USB interface to connect the target PC and the host PC through the USB connecting system;
reading a flow control flag of a BIOS and detecting the value of the flow control flag;
compiling a program code with the function of outputting a debug signal into data of the BIOS of the target PC;
outputting the data through a transmission unit; and
displaying the data on a screen of the host PC
wherein if the flow control flag indicates not to perform debugging in the step of detecting the value of the flow control flag, the program code with the function of outputting the debug signal does not compile into the BIOS.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the flow control flag is set by a user to have a value selected from 0 and 1 to determine whether debugging should be monitored.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data further contain the program code with the function of outputting the debug signal.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the BIOS further executes the steps of:
initializing a USB controller of the target PC; and
outputting the data to the host PC through a connecting unit.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission unit is a USB cable for connecting the host PC and the target PC.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the host PC further contains a USB port connecting to the USB cable.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the target PC further contains a USB port connecting to the USB cable.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the target PC is a computer system that performs debugging.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the host PC is a computer system that monitors the program code with the function of outputting the debug signal.
US10/073,205 2002-02-13 2002-02-13 Method of debugging using a USB connecting system Expired - Lifetime US6941491B2 (en)

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Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20080098380A1 (en) * 2006-10-18 2008-04-24 Toby Klusmeyer System, method, and device for updating programmable electronic equipment with a transport device from a deployment server via the internet or other communication medium
US20090210690A1 (en) * 2008-02-19 2009-08-20 Asustek Computer Inc. Method of updating basic input output system and module and computer system implementing the same
US20120047295A1 (en) * 2010-08-23 2012-02-23 Chi Kwok Wong Multiplexing application and debug channels on a single usb connection
CN106033378A (en) * 2015-03-20 2016-10-19 昆达电脑科技(昆山)有限公司 Debug information storage method

Families Citing this family (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
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TW571240B (en) * 2002-07-10 2004-01-11 Akom Technology Inc Display method for debugging code of BISO
GB2439579A (en) * 2006-06-30 2008-01-02 Advanced Risc Mach Ltd Target device programmer
EP3182320B1 (en) * 2015-12-18 2019-10-23 Airbus Cybersecurity GmbH Technique for inspecting a host computer
CN109634793A (en) * 2018-12-11 2019-04-16 广东浪潮大数据研究有限公司 Control method, device and the equipment of BIOS debugging mode
CN109977042A (en) * 2019-02-28 2019-07-05 珠海海奇半导体有限公司 A kind of USB on-line debugging system and method
CN111949529B (en) * 2020-08-06 2024-03-22 曙光信息产业(北京)有限公司 System debugging method, device, computer equipment and storage medium

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US5850562A (en) * 1994-06-27 1998-12-15 International Business Machines Corporation Personal computer apparatus and method for monitoring memory locations states for facilitating debugging of post and BIOS code
US6336195B1 (en) * 1999-04-14 2002-01-01 Compal Electronics, Inc. Method for debugging keyboard basic input/output system (KB-BIOS) in a development notebook computing system
US6560702B1 (en) * 1997-12-10 2003-05-06 Phoenix Technologies Ltd. Method and apparatus for execution of an application during computer pre-boot operation
US6615288B1 (en) * 1999-12-27 2003-09-02 Dell Products L.P. Generating system management interrupt in response to usb controller signal and processing interrupt routine in upper most level of system memory
US6732301B1 (en) * 2000-03-06 2004-05-04 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Serial bus diagnostic port of a digital system

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5850562A (en) * 1994-06-27 1998-12-15 International Business Machines Corporation Personal computer apparatus and method for monitoring memory locations states for facilitating debugging of post and BIOS code
US6560702B1 (en) * 1997-12-10 2003-05-06 Phoenix Technologies Ltd. Method and apparatus for execution of an application during computer pre-boot operation
US6336195B1 (en) * 1999-04-14 2002-01-01 Compal Electronics, Inc. Method for debugging keyboard basic input/output system (KB-BIOS) in a development notebook computing system
US6615288B1 (en) * 1999-12-27 2003-09-02 Dell Products L.P. Generating system management interrupt in response to usb controller signal and processing interrupt routine in upper most level of system memory
US6732301B1 (en) * 2000-03-06 2004-05-04 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Serial bus diagnostic port of a digital system

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20080098380A1 (en) * 2006-10-18 2008-04-24 Toby Klusmeyer System, method, and device for updating programmable electronic equipment with a transport device from a deployment server via the internet or other communication medium
US20090210690A1 (en) * 2008-02-19 2009-08-20 Asustek Computer Inc. Method of updating basic input output system and module and computer system implementing the same
US20120047295A1 (en) * 2010-08-23 2012-02-23 Chi Kwok Wong Multiplexing application and debug channels on a single usb connection
US8145807B1 (en) * 2010-08-23 2012-03-27 Smartech Worldwide Limited Multiplexing application and debug channels on a single USB connection
US8151017B2 (en) * 2010-08-23 2012-04-03 Smartech World Wide Limited Multiplexing application and debug channels on a single USB connection
CN106033378A (en) * 2015-03-20 2016-10-19 昆达电脑科技(昆山)有限公司 Debug information storage method

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